How to see errors and logs?

[hoylemd]

Hi folks, I'm new to modding, but not to programming.

I'm working on a macbook, since it's where I have all my programming tools set up. Something is going wrong with the mod I'm working on, and I can't find the error output anywhere. I tried `tail` ing the `factorio-current.log` file, but I didn't see any mod errors there. I also added a line to the mod's `control.lua` script so I will know when I've found the right thing:

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game.players[0].print('Hi Mom!')

But I can't find that output anywhere

Some of the stuff I've seen from googling around makes me think that `print()` output and errors should be going to stdout or stderr. Also seems that most modders are testing their mods by running the factorio executable in their command line, so stdout and stderr appear in their terminal. I tried this, but since I have the game installed through Steam, the `factorio` executable (found at `~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/factorio.app/MacOS/factorio`) doesn't launch the game such that stdout and stderr are captured - it just launches it and returns to the shell.


So, my questions:
- For those who develop on macos and/or have the game installed through steam, how do you run the game to test your mods?
- Where do mod errors get printed/logged?
- Where does `player.print()` go to?
- What is your favourite colour?

Thanks folks!

[DaveMcW]

game.print() and player.print() display on screen, they are not connected to any external monitoring tool. (Also Lua tables start at 1 so players[0] is an error.)

print() does go to stdout, but stdout is not easy to work with on Steam.

Use this to print to factorio-current.log:

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log("Hi Mom!")

[hoylemd]

Ah darn, that's a shame. Oh well, not the end of the world.

As for error messages and stack traces. Where do they appear?

[Bilka]

As for error messages and stack traces. Where do they appear?

Also in the log file.

[hoylemd]

Hmm, something's weird with my environment then. I was making some tweaks to an existing mod, and I broke some of the functionality (pressing a button just didn't do anything anymore, and I just added a `style` argument to a UI component's `add()` call, so I assumed I made a mistake of some kind), but I didn't see any stack traces or error messages in the log. I might have been doing some other things wrongly though. I'll try it again.

[hoylemd]

Welp, figured that out. Turns out the mod I was working on had a broken 'release' script that would neglect to include the lua source files when bundling up the .zip archive. I have resolved that issue, and am now seeing my log messages appear as expected! hooray!

[Iccor56]

game.print() and player.print() display on screen, they are not connected to any external monitoring tool. (Also Lua tables start at 1 so players[0] is an error.)

print() does go to stdout, but stdout is not easy to work with on Steam.

Use this to print to factorio-current.log:

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log("Hi Mom!")

player.print() errors. is there a number or name needed somewhere?

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local function Blueprint_Scanner_on_player_mined_entity(event)
	log("on_player_mined_entity start")
	game.print(event.name )
	game.print(event.tick )
end

game.print only prints the event.name every few seconds. but it prints the event.tick every time i mine an entity. any idea why that is?

[darkfrei]

game.print only prints the event.name every few seconds. but it prints the event.tick every time i mine an entity. any idea why that is?

Antispam

[Iccor56]

game.print only prints the event.name every few seconds. but it prints the event.tick every time i mine an entity. any idea why that is?

Antispam

but it is not telling me the things i am telling it to tell me. this is very frustrating. especially when the code is obviously running.

[eradicator]

game.print is not meant for continous debugging output. If you want live output use print() or log(). Then start factorio from a terminal/console (win+r 'cmd' return on windows) or use a text editor that can handle real-time updating text files (like notepad2).